Prostate Cancer in African-American Men

According to the National Cancer Institute, African-American men are more likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer and to die from prostate cancer than white men, although the reasons for this are not clear.

African-American men have considerably higher incidence rates (236 cases per 100,000 in 2005 to 2009) than white men (146.9 cases per 100,000 in 2005 to 2009).

African-American men may have the highest rate of prostate cancer incidence in the world. In addition, their prostate cancer mortality rate is more than twice as high as the rate for white Americans. In the period from 2005 to 2009, mortality rates were 21.7 cases per 100,000 white men compared to 53.1 cases per 100,000 African-American men.

Five-year relative survival rates are lower for African-American men (96.2 percent during 2002 to 2008) than for white men (99.6 percent during 2002 to 2008).

The causes of higher rates of prostate cancer among African-American males are largely unknown. Some studies have found that even when income and education are controlled for, African-Americans have much higher rates than whites. Further studies are examining the impact of a wide variety of potential risk factors, including dietary and other lifestyle differences, occupational exposures, and hormonal and genetic differences.